No direct entry in Davis Cup team: Kaleem Imam

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) Management Committee meeting was held at Senator Dilawar Abbas PTF Tennis Complex under the chair of president Syed Kaleem Imam Tuesday.The meeting was attended by Jamal Mirza, Nadir Mumtaz, Arif Qureshi, M Khalil while Sultan Maqsood and Senator Dilawar Abbas could not attend meeting due to other important commitments. Talking exclusively with this scribe Kaleem said it was quarterly meeting of grave importance as some high profile issues were discussed in detail, which included Davis Cup tie against Thailand in September, sending of junior team to Kochen, Malaysia for Junior Davis Cup on 25th of this month and issuing of final notice to council members, who are not conducting events despite repeated warnings.Kaleem said it was decided to invite top six players for training camp for the Davis Cup tie against Thailand starting from September 13. The reason behind only inviting top six players is to select the best possible team for the highly significant event and it would also help the federation to judge fitness and form of the players, he added.When this correspondent asks Kaleem weather Samir would be a direct entry like past in the team, Kaleem said Samir would also have to come to attend trials to show his fitness and form and that is the only way for him to get a place in the Davis Cup squad. “No direct entry this time around for Samir. If he is willing to represent country, then he has to appear in the trial matches.”He said it was decided in principal to issue final notice to all those council members, who are non-active since long and despite several reminders not ready to play their due role. If they fail to comply with rules and regulations, then their voting rights would be scrapped, he added“We are also writing letter to International Tennis Federation regarding holding of features in Pakistan. We would request them to allocate maximum number of features to Pakistan and make sure the scheduled events take place in our country, which is very important to promote tennis in Pakistan. ITF can't deprived Pakistani fans from watching their favourite players perform in front of them.”He said junior team comprising M Mudassar, M Muzammil and Zain Mujahid would depart on 25th to Malaysia to participate in Junior Davis Cup and camp was already underway under the command of Jalil Khan.He said POF Wah is also conducting a national ranking tournament from 19th to 25th of next month and the PTF would also organise a ranking event from 26th to 30th of next month. As I had promised earlier this year would be the year of non-stop events and I am fulfilling my promise by conducting maximum number of events as there was hardly any month where we didn't conduct two ranking events.”Kaleem said the PTF have decided to recommend Aqeel Khan’s name for Sitare Imtiaz as he had given his all to Pakistan and he deserves this honour and I am sure our request will be entertained. “Any positive decision in this regard would have very positive impact on the future of Pakistan tennis. I hope government will honour our recommendation and Aqeel will be finally acknowledged at the highest level. We would soon launching PTF official website where PTF rules, future events and all important material regarding federation would be available. We have also discussed PTF elections scheduled to be held in November this year,” Kaleem concluded.